Projection system with a common light source sharing system

Abstract

A projection display with a common light source sharing system for improved illumination uniformity is described. The common light source is coupled through a light-dividing prism to multiple integrators. Each integrator is coupled to one or more imaging devices that project image tiles to form a larger composite tiled image.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 458,642, entitled “COMMON LIGHT SOURCE SHARING SYSTEM” and filed Mar. 28, 2003, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention is directed to projection display devices and, more particularly to light engines for projection display devices.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]There is a high demand among consumers for high-definition large screen displays such as, for example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), digital light pulse (DLP) displays and Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) displays. Typical liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for consumer applications have SVGA resolution of approximately 600×800 pixels, although high-end projection displays have been introduced with up to 1920×1080 pixels. Displaying such low resolution on a large display yields unacceptable picture quality, for example, an SVGA...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]The present invention provides a projection display with a common light source sharing system for improved illumination uniformity. A common light source is coupled through a light-dividing prism to multiple integrators. Each integrator is coupled to one or more imaging devices that project image tiles to form a larger composite tiled image.

Problems solved by technology

Displaying such low resolution on a large display yields unacceptable picture quality, for example, an SVGA display projected as a 10-foot diagonal image has a minimum pixel size of approximately ⅛-inch by ⅛-inch.

Such multi-lamp projection systems have generally proved less than satisfactory, because of a lack of illumination uniformity between the tiles.

This lack of illumination uniformity is typically caused because each lamp exhibits differing brightness and color characteristics as compared to the other lamps in the system.

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